Ocak yanıyor.

the stove

Breakdown of Ocak yanıyor.

• yanmak: to burn

Questions & Answers about Ocak yanıyor.

What does Ocak mean in this sentence? How do I know it’s not January?

Ocak in Turkish can mean both stove/hearth and the month January. You decide from context: here we’re clearly talking about something that “burns,” so it’s the stove. Note that in Turkish months are lowercase except at the start of a sentence, so the initial capital O is just because it’s the first word—not because it’s the month.

Why is there no article before Ocak? How would I say “a stove” vs. “the stove”?

Turkish has no words for the or a/an. You just use the noun by itself.

• “A stove is on” → Bir ocak yanıyor.
• “The stove is on” → Ocak yanıyor.
  Whether it’s definite or indefinite comes from context or by adding bir for “a.”

Why is the verb yanıyor used here instead of yanar or the infinitive yanmak?

Turkish has different verb aspects:

• yanmak = “to burn” (infinitive)
• yanar = simple present (“it burns” as a general fact)
• yanıyor = present continuous (“it is burning/it is on right now”)
  Here we need “is burning/on right now,” so we use yanıyor.

How do I break down yanıyor into its root and suffixes?